Vocational Education and Job Training Programs, 1981. Joint Hearings before the Subcommittee on Employment and Productivity and the Subcommittee on Education, Arts and Humanities of the Committee on Labor and Human Resources, United States Senate, Ninety-Seventh Congress, First Session on Examination of Federal Vocational Education and Job Training Programs for Young People (October 21 and November 24, 1981).

Congress of the U.S., Washington, DC. Senate Committee on Labor and Human Resources.

Two Senate Subcommittees conducted joint hearings in October and November, 1981, on federal vocational education and job training programs for youth. The Committees sought answers to the question of how the federal government should participate in building an effective and efficient work force. Witnesses who spoke at the hearings included Governor Pierre Du Pont of Delaware; Albert Angrisani and Robert Worthington, both Assistant Secretaries of Labor; Senator Larry Pressler of South Dakota; and representatives from the St. Louis Public Schools and the state education department of South Carolina. Governor Du Pont described Jobs for Delaware Graduates, a program for placing high school graduates and following up on them for 9 months, at a cost of only $1,500 per placement, compared to $6,000 to $15,000 for Comprehensive Employment and Training Act (CETA) programs and others. The program is being expanded nationwide as Jobs for America's Graduates. Angrisani and Worthington spoke about the need to coordinate vocational education and CETA programs, perhaps with vocational education playing the coordinating role. South Dakota has a very successful program of vocational education, according to Senator Pressler, with more than $12 in economic development realized for every $1 spent on training programs; however, federal regulations should be made less cumbersome in regards to funds distribution. The St. Louis and South Carolina representatives testified about effective programs in their areas linking vocational education and the private sector. (Texts of these and other prepared statements are included in the transcript.) (KC)